Alan

While trying to get the best keywords for a number of client sites I've been doing some reading on Meta Tags, in particular the keywords, and the optimum sizes. I have found is really that depending upon who the article author is there are different recommendations (these come from alleged reputable sources). Thought I would share few of the recommendations I have found;

Number of keywords

• Do not use keywords, search engines don't use them
• Limit the number of keywords to 10
• Limit the number of keywords to 18
• Limit the number of keywords to 30

Keyword Length

• Total meta tag length must be less than 128 characters
• Total meta tag length must be less than 256 characters
• Total meta tag length must be less than 512 characters

Which keywords

• Use different keyword on each page
• Use the same keywords on every page

Confused? well I would be if I hadn't checked before, heaven help somebody starting out. There's a lot of information out there, but be careful it's not all correct.

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NavyCS

And for those reasons I wanted to actually test it. I have an on-going test about the keyword meta and the title="" attribute. First read; mrnavycs keyword test and then a follow-up Yahoo meta keywords.

The test has a way to go and I plan on extending the research once my final conclusions are met. There are a couple things I am finding I didn't expect and that are useful.

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OldWelshGuy

Personally I pay no matter to the keywords meta tag. It has not stopped me getting sites ranked in real estate and mortgages which are 2 of the hardest areas to SEO (along with sex & Gambling).

What I WOULD say though is that IF it is there, then it should be used properly ie keywords (Like ALL meta's) should be for the PAGE not the site!

I have a long term test running (3 years) where a page (pr6) has no content, but is in the google index, and the ONLY text is in the keyword meta and it is a made up word. this is the only instance of this word anywhere on the web, and google does not return the page in a search for that phrase.

Draw your own conclusions

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jo_cstd

OldWelshGuy is right. Don't just rely on information you get. Experiment.

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charlesgan

keyword does effect my site ranking.
and i experiment a few set of them over time... and once i go the best one.. i will stick to it.

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OldWelshGuy

Are you saying that altering your the content of your keyword Meta tag affected your ranking on Google? Or are you talking about keywords as in keywords used across the site?

Any chance you can clarify

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jwd25

Actually, relevance is also important as search engines seems to go for keyword density as well in the metatag. The higher the keyword density, the easier it is for sites positioning in SERPS of cource not necesary in top ranking.

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OldWelshGuy

JWD. I have said this previously but will say it again.

Some people are talking about 'keywords' as a general concept, while the THREAD is talking specifically about the keywords meta tag.

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alemcherry

Search engines stopped using meta keywords and descriptions long back. These are easy spamming areas, no real search engines will take them seriously.

Modern search engines are able to anylyze the content, which gives them exact idea about what the page is all about. Also matter is title and anchor texts, used in the links pointing to the sites.

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seobeglobal

I completely agree with you. Just focus on having good original content and in building links, specially if your focus is son Google.

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OldWelshGuy

Yahoo uses the description meta, as does Google to an extent. So I have to disagree with the statement by Alemcherry "Search engines stopped using meta keywords and descriptions long back" sorry about that.

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mhmdkhamis

i think little key words be effect more

like i do here
http://www.paramegsoft.com

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freetesthost

i think one word be effect more

frysoft

Keyword for search engine listing is a an old technique , Today’s Search Engine
Like google use special algorithms for indexing your site
Google not find related word in keyword meta- tag
They use word with in
<b></b>
<strong></strong>
<h1></h1>
So Now specify your search related keyword with in these tags
http://www.frysoft.com

cmsdestekcom

goooodd
for thanks